Elston '89

Elston Chardonnay '16

Produced since 1984, Elston is an outstanding New Zealand chardonnay, grown at Te Mata Estate’s oldest vineyards on the hillsides above the winery. It is rich and complex with flavours of fresh pineapple, white peach and nougat.

$35.90/ bottle

Tasting Notes 1989

1989 Elston has a green colour with hints of gold. It has an aroma of ripe peaches, smoky oak and butterscotch. The rich fruit flavour is supported by oak and it has a long, elegant finish.

1989 Elston has a development span of 4-6 years from harvest, during which time it will gain complexity, intensity and richness.

Technical Analysis

Winemaking

The grapes were whole-cluster pressed, the resulting juice settled and then run to 50% new French oak casks for fermentation.

The wine then stayed in these casks for a further seven months, a proportion of it was put through malolactic, and following an assemblage it was bottled in January 1990.

The final blend contains 20% of malolactic chardonnay.

Vineyards

1989 Elston Chardonnay was hand-picked between the 4th February and the 2nd 2 March.

Origin

Elston is named for Elston Hall in Nottinghamshire, the ancestral home of Charles Darwin’s family. Darwin’s ‘theory of natural selection’ forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory, the foundation of biology. The wyvern symbol of Elston Hall appears on the label.